Empty World
by Sorrow Reminisce
Summary: They say you don't appreciate what you've got, until it's gone... Terminal City is swept by a modern day plague, and no one is immune. An apocalyptic darkfic.
1. Chapter 1

**Author Note:** Remember at the end of _Harbor Lights_ when Dr George gives Max's file to some other mysterious and shady looking suit? Well that scene is the basis for this story, and hopefully gives me poetic licence to turn a virus targeted specifically at Logan, into something that sweeps the country.

* * *

As stiff as toys  
And tall as men  
And swaying like the wind torn trees  
She talked about the empty world  
With eyes like poison birds

She talked about the armies  
That marched inside her head  
And how they made her dreams go bad  
But oh how happy she was  
How proud she was  
To be fighting in the war  
In the empty world  
_The Cure, 'Empty World'_

**E M P T Y . W O R L D**

**B y . S o r r o w . R e m i n i s c e**

**. x . **

_Sometimes I look back on my past and think of how, in the long run, escaping Manticore was in fact the worst decision I had ever made. If I'd remained behind like a good little soldier, things would have turned out a whole lot different. According to Sandeman's little genetic doodles on my skin anyway. _

_I can't even begin to imagine how much he must have regretted choosing me to be his little messenger. The guy slaved over a hot Bunsen burner for years, trying to create an antidote to the troubles he could see brewing ahead. Then by jumping through a window in the middle of one particularly cold winter's night, I messed up everything. _

_But how was I to know? The guy was smart, couldn't he have implanted a bit of foresight into my brain? _

_Unfortunately, no amount of loathing directed at either myself or my creator, can turn back the clock. Right now, I have a multi-choice in front of me, and I need to decide which option to tick. _

_Neither of them are particularly appealing. _

_See, once the world was merely broken, I never knew it to be any different. But now, it's not just broken - it's empty. _

_You don't know what I mean? Well, you're lucky then. _

_They say you don't appreciate what you've got, until it's gone. Well, I've lost everything. But what I regret most about that, is the fact I'm still alive to remember the how and why's of what went wrong. _

* * *

**5 June, 2022  
3.35pm**

"Max, take a look at the news. This is the fifteenth person to drop in the past two days. Right here in Seattle this time."

Alec glanced to Max who knelt beside her bike, and waved her over to the small screen perched on the wall mount. Rolling her eyes impatiently, Terminal City's self-appointed leader let her spanner slip to the ground and turned to her source of vexation with a sigh.

"I can see it from here Alec. And it doesn't concern us."

"Come on Max, would ya stop acting like you don't give a damn? People are dying from this bug right across America, now it's right here in our backyard. What are you gonna say when it's OC's name being read out? Or Sketch? Or what about Logan?"

Max paused, her frown of annoyance flickering slightly into one of worry. "It's just a flu Alec. Don't be such a drama queen."

"Hey!" Alec was just about to deliver a retort when the shrill ring of his cell phone cut in. Muttering beneath his breath, he fished it from his pocket and glanced at the screen before sighing and holding it out to Max.

Jumping up, she grabbed the phone off Alec, and punched him on the arm for the hell of it. Laughing gleefully as his face contorted into an expression of indignation if not pain, Max skipped out of the way before he could retaliate, and flipped the phone open. As the voice came to her through the speaker, and the meaning of the words sank in, she stopped, a look of anxiety suddenly crossing her face and wiping away the smile.

"What?!"

Alec watched in concern as Max's eyes widened in horror, the single word escaping her mouth with a punch of their own.

"Max, what is it?" He signalled for her attention but she stared into space, shutting off everything around her but the voice on the other side of the phone. "Come on Max, what's up?"

Waving her hand for silence, Max turned away and whispered. "Yeah, we'll be ready."

Handing the phone back to Alec at last, Max stared at him in fear, causing a shiver of apprehension to worm it's way slowly down his spine. "Max what is -"

"Manticore... the virus..."

"What? How?" Alec shook his head in confusion, wondering how Logan could have contracted Max's virus when he had been on the outside for three days, collecting information on one of his Eye's Only missions. "It's okay, I'll give him a transfusion, he'll be fine Max."

Stepping forward, Alec took Max by the shoulders and began to draw her towards him in a comforting hug. But she placed her hands against his chest and pulled back. "Alec... it's not _that _virus."

Max paused, not wanting to say the words out loud. As Alec's look of puzzlement began to flicker with impatience, she took a deep breath.

"Well it is but... It's mutated. And so far it's caused the death of twenty people - in two days."

"Twenty? But the news said…"

"Five of them were lab technicians. And that information has been kept under wraps. The CDC don't want to cause a panic - or be forced to admit they're to blame. When I was holed up in Harbor Lights, there was a CDC doctor with an over-zealous interest in my DNA. After I broke outta there, I guess he just got even more obsessed about figuring out the 'mystery of Linda Eastman'. "

Max paused as she felt panic began to surge through her. Choking it back down to the pit of her stomach, she continued. "Logan's on his way here. He's been on the phone with Dr Carr. The CDC want a blood sample from a transgenic - to see if they can come up with an antidote to the virus. But..."

"Hang on, how is everyone else getting this virus? It wasn't contagious was it?" Alec stared down at Max with wide startled eyes.

"Dr. George wanted to know about my unique DNA, but instead, some corrupt little lab techie thought he could see potential for a biological weapon or something. Maybe he wanted to make himself famous. Who knows? Point is, they tampered with it - too much. Now, skin contact with an infected person will pass it on to anyone."

Finally she did allow Alec to embrace her, and burrowed her face into his chest. He wrapped his arms tightly around her, briefly wondering why Max wasn't blaming him for the virus as she usually did. Especially now of all times. Perhaps she was too consumed by her own guilt? Or maybe this was just one of those rare occasions where Max simply needed reassurance without laying blame.

"It's going to be okay Maxie. Sandeman sussed everything out when he made you remember?"

Nodding her head, they continued to cling to each other in silence, waiting for answers to be delivered. Or, for the world to end.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx . xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx . xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**6.27pm**

"_It's just a flu Alec. Don't be such a drama queen"_

The words echoed in Max's head, taunting her with her own off-handed rebuke. She wrapped her hands tightly around her own waist, feeling herself rapidly crumbling inside. A mental image entered her head that almost made herself burst out into desperate laughter. Imagine, just imagine if she imploded right here before everyone? The strong leader of Terminal City, losing absolute control?

Twenty dead… and it was all her fault wasn't it? She was poison. Not simply to loved ones, but to strangers too.

Fixing her eyes on Joshua as Alec removed the needle from the dog-boy's arm, Max fought within herself to find solidity. With such incredible guilt bearing down upon her, it was a battle she was rapidly losing.

As if sensing Max's inner turmoil, Joshua met her eyes and offered a calm, comforting smile, but Max's lips failed her as she tried to return it. Instead she asked herself why it was that everyone was holding themselves together so well, when she was the one splitting at the seams?

Watching as Alec began to unwrap a fresh syringe to extract blood from his own veins, Max silently prayed to any available deity, that their sacrifice would pay off - that one of them would hold the solution to this virus within the blood that was being carefully siphoned from their bodies.

But a heaviness had settled over her, chocking her. Somehow it seemed that such a thing would be far too easy. And if she'd learnt one thing in this world, it was that life was never, ever easy.

"Max, it's gonna be okay."

Jumping slightly as the voice broke into her thoughts, Max turned towards Logan. He looked so calm. Almost optimistic. Even now it seemed he was fighting the good fight - unwavering in his certainty that good could prevail over evil. One way or another.

Aware that Logan was waiting for a reply, Max raised her eyes from the ground where they had become fixated, and met his own. He wore the poker face he often donned, when he was holding back the things he wanted most to say. To her. It was almost a game. Who could lie to themselves, and each other, the most?

"I know."

And there it was. Her counter-lie. Both knew it wasn't going to be okay. For any of them. But sometimes it was simply easier to make believe, than to risk laying yourself bare with some deep, dark version of the truth. Whatever _that _was.

And so they stood facing each other, regret and longing adorning both of their faces. Regret for the unmeasurable distance that lay between them, and a longing to close what to an onlooker would seem only a four foot gap.

"Hey Max, your turn."

At the sound of Alec's voice, Logan's carefully assembled smile faltered, and he stepped back, allowing the silent game between himself and Max to end.

Max removed her jacket and briskly rolled up the sleeve of the top she wore beneath, as she approached the chair around which Alec and Joshua now stood. Taking her seat, Max closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Perhaps it was futile, but she hoped against hope that her own virus riddled DNA would offer some kind of insight for the doctors who vigorously worked on cracking a cure to this new, improved virus bitch.

"I guess I don't need to tell you it'll be okay huh?"

Max opened her eyes and looked straight into Alec's own a mere foot away, as he leant over her and extracted blood from her veins. Realising he had over heard Logan's words, she nodded.

"He's right you know." Alec's tone was light, as optimistic as Logan's had been.

Max nodded, perplexed suddenly. Was it human nature to hide insecurities behind false bravado? Or maybe it was a guy thing. Perhaps they just spent less time dwelling on life's niggling worries than she. However they did it, Max only wished that she could carry it off as well as these two men did.

Reflecting on the rare and unusual embrace she had shared with Alec a few hours earlier, Max drew a small measure of solace from the memory. Finding her platform of solidity, at least for a moment, Max gave a show at optimism - however false it may be.

"Of course. Sandeman sussed everything out…"

The words faded away. What had Sandeman given them except false hope? How the hell were stupid runes supposed to save them? Sure, they had a bit of forewarning about a damn shroud of darkness, couldn't he had saved costs on the invisible ink by cutting to the chase and telling them how to beat the bitch?

"Exactly Max. Sandeman has everything sussed. Now stop worrying and let the good Doctor Alec take care of everything."

Max fell into silence as she watched her blood fill the syringe. She knew Alec was offering support, but she didn't know how to respond to it. It was only recently that she had discovered he was a rock for her to lean against, to draw strength from. And now she had him offering words of wisdom to boot. Was this the same Alec she'd misjudged for so long?

Sure, she should suck it in, put her chin up and 'soldier on'. But a negative voice continued to nag away inside Max's head. Neither Logan nor Alec had the same guilt to wrestle with as she, did they?

"If you're thinkin' it's your fault, it's not Max. If anything, it's mine. I'm the one who followed Renfro's orders. I had a hand in the release of this virus, didn't I?"

Realising he spoke of her escape from Manticore, Max forgot all thoughts of tenderness as anger flared within her once more. After all, laying the blame on someone else would surely help alleviate her own conscience that much more efficiently.

"A hand? Just a hand? Damn it Alec, _you're_ the reason we're here right now!"

As Alec flinched at her words, Max realised the accusation didn't bring the sense of release she had hoped for.

She wanted Alec to deny it, to give her a reason to fight. Fighting was how she coped, it was her outlet. But he denied her that. There was far too much shame in his eyes to allow her such an unreasonable comfort.

Of course he had followed orders. The punishment he'd received after the Berrisford incident had taught him why one should never, ever defy such powerful, unforgiving authority. Max didn't want to be that for Alec too - an unforgiving authority. She didn't want to be the one to hold such a noose over him when he already seemed to be doing a good job of hanging himself.

"I'm sorry Alec."

Max had little practice in saying those three words. Especially when used in conjunction with each other. Even to her own ears the apology sounded insincere. But it was mere lack of practice that caused such a tone.

Shooting Max a sidelong look, Alec gave her a curt nod as he removed the syringe and handed back her jacket.

Taking a step after Alec as he turned away, Max reached out to stop him. But her hand slipped uselessly from his shoulder as he shrugged her away. A mirrored gesture of the one made once upon a time, in a bar called Crash.

And there it was. The wall between them once more. Just as solid as it stood between herself and Logan. She was poison in more ways than one.


	2. Chapter 2

**E M P T Y . W O R L D**

**B y . S o r r o w . R e m i n i s c e**

**. x . x . **

**8 June, 2022  
8.15am**

"Any word from the CDC yet?"

Max swept into Terminal City's headquarters, wearing the false bravado she had silently accused Alec and Logan of hogging for themselves a few days earlier. She was growing tired of waiting for news, only to have to hear it on the television like the rest of America. The CDC had promised to make contact if they reaped any kind of positive result from the transgenic blood they'd been given, and the lack of response frankly scared her. And the fact that she tried to hide this fear from everyone else did nothing to neutralise the apprehension within her own self.

Joshua, Dix and Logan stood at a table, making their way through assorted computer equipment. They too had begun to lose patience with the 'powers that be'. At last the suggestion had been made, by Logan, to take matters into their own hands - thanks to the powers of computer hacking. Unable to sleep, they had spent the night picking over every vaguely salvageable piece of hard drive they could find within Terminal City.

As if gifted with the wonders of telepathy, the CDC had finally contacted them that morning. But the news had done nothing to stall their resolve to find out information by their own means.

As Max approached, Joshua glanced hesitantly between Dix and Logan. "Who should tell her?"

"Tell me what?" Anxiety replaced Max's optimistic façade and her mind raced forward to consider the countless possibilities of what the answer to her question could be.

As Dix shrugged, Logan nodded towards Joshua and the transhuman sprang up from his seat, glad to have something positive to report.

"Dr George called, just ten minutes ago. They uh… they don't want to speak too soon but my blood seems to be pretty powerful stuff." Joshua grinned, excited to think that he truly was father's 'special one'. Even if this hadn't been part of Sandeman's plan.

"It's working?!" Max's voice rose several notches, her face breaking at last into an all-consuming smile.

"Uhh…" Joshua's proud beam faltered as he paused, unsure of how to elaborate further. "I uh…"

Clearing his throat, Logan cut in to fill Max in on the details. "They've done a bit of tweaking here and there, but they seem to be making some progress in stopping the mutation process."

Beaming, Max considered the news. "Hey, think maybe they'll whip up a cure for the virus in me while they're at it?"

Logan nodded. "Maybe."

Her tone good humoured, Max smiled softly towards the man she'd almost grown used to being wary around, for fear she might cause his death. "Least that way you can stop smelling like _eau de bleach _huh?"

"I'm sure if they can cure the mutated strain of the Manticore virus, they'll be able to fix us up. But Max…" Logan hesitated, his expression torn. "I just don't think it'd be wise to get our hopes up too soon."

Ignoring the voice of wisdom that warned her not to fall victim to premature happiness, Max couldn't help but let the relief flood through her. The CDC knew what they were doing. They _had _to know what they were doing.

"Of course! But, well it's a start right? They _have _to cure this virus. It's about more than just _us _now - last nights news report had the death count across America at _over two hundred_. Two hundred and thirteen people dead in just five days!" Panic crept into Max's voice once more. "That's one damn fast spreading virus…"

Logan turned to Max, a somewhat hesitant expression on his face. "Max, I wouldn't tell anyone yet - it's still too soon to know for -"

"Of course - we'll keep it between us, just for now. But if they've halted the virus in its tracks, that's fast progress - considering how long we've searched for a cure. I'm sure in a week or so, everything will be fine."

"What's going to be fine?"

The four conspirators snapped their eyes towards the entrance as Alec strolled in. Seeing the others gaping as they searched for a reply, Dix rolled his eyes dramatically. "Ah you know, chicks and their hormones. Shitty as hell one day, laughing at the world the next."

Alec's questioning expression turned to one of amusement. "Dix - since when have you known anything about chicks and their hormones?"

Ducking his head in embarrassment, the transhuman shrugged. "Oh. Well, I uh… I read a lot of books."

"Riiighht-o." Clapping his not-so-human friend on the back in a gesture of camaraderie, Alec turned towards Max, eyebrow raised.

"So what's with the good cheer Max?" Glancing towards the others, who immediately diverted their eyes and feigned preoccupation, Alec shrugged and wandering over to where she stood at the window.

Max turned to stare out at Terminal City's main street, and fought to wipe the smile from her face, remembering Logan's suggestion to keep the news under wraps.

Weighing up the list of plausible answers in her mind, Max asked herself if lying to Alec would be such a good idea… they still hadn't spoken since their dispute. If she kept this from him, wouldn't he feel as if her prior apology was insincere, and that she didn't trust him even now? But, if she chose her carefully words so as to avoid both telling the truth, _and _lying… what he didn't know wouldn't hurt, right?

"So a girl has to have a good excuse to be happy these days?" Max's tone was playful, and she cringed inwardly. Too playful given circumstances.

"Come one Max, these aren't ordinary every day days." A note of concern crept into Alec's voice as he wondered whether the stress of the previous evening had had some kind of adverse effect upon Max's sanity. "Are you uh, feeling alright - Maxie?"

Max glanced to the hand that suddenly rested on her elbow, and the guilt rose up within her. Reluctantly, she turned to face him, and seeing the worry etched around his eyes, words spilt from her lips. "I really am sorry about the other day, I didn't -"

"Ssshhh." Alec closed his eyes for a moment, composing his thoughts. "It's fine. I would have reacted the same way."

"No you wouldn't have." Max regarded Alec seriously, knowing he was trying to brush over the hurt she'd inflicted upon him, as he'd been doing for months now - each time she blamed him for something that went wrong in her life.

Alec's hand twitched upon Max's arm for a moment, as if he was suddenly unsure what to do with the appendage. Finally he pulled away and stepped back, even as he flashed her a small, brief grin.

Casting her face downwards to hide her disappointment, Max realised the wall between their friendship remained, even now.

"Hey," Alec moved quickly to break the awkward silence, ducking down to peer at Max beneath her frown. "Where have all the happy thoughts gone?"

Shrugging, Max swallowed tightly and glanced out of the window once more. "It's premature anyway."

"What is?" Alec frowned, not understanding her train of thought.

Sighing, Max looked to Logan, who like the others, was now watching the exchange between them intently. Realising she silently asked his opinion, he held up his hands and shrugging his shoulders in uncertainty, not wanting to make Max's decision for her.

"CDC may have found a cure for this mutated virus out there. _Maybe_." Max spoke hesitantly now, realising just how much of a 'maybe' this finding was. After all, there was a time when there 'may' have been a cure for the virus she carried within her, but of course, twelve hours later she had been back to square one. And hurting for ever having experienced the false hope.

Alec's own feelings on the matter were guarded as he ran a hand through his hair and rocked slightly on his toes, as if holding in whatever feeling was pent up within himself.

"So what do you think?" Impatient for some kind of response, Max pinned Alec with her question.

"I dunno Max. I mean, it's too soon to be breaking out the party balloons."

"I realise that!" Berating herself for snapping even as she tried to mend the broken bridge between them, Max felt anxiety sweep through her once more. "I just lost myself in the moment. I needed something to smile about - just for a moment."

"Understandable." Alec's tone softened, a genuine smile settling itself upon his face. "There's nothing wrong with losing yourself in the moment every now and then. Think of it as an indulgence of the senses."

Winking as Max pushed him lightly, Alec held up his hands in mock defence and crossed the room to Joshua, Dix and Logan, who were back to their grand efforts at pretending they were working on repairs.

"Righto folks. What's on the agenda for the day?"

"Pfft! What are you doing awake at this hour anyway Alec? You're never up before ten." Dix grinned, and threw his thumb towards the salvaged computer equipment, as he simultaneously handed Alec a screw driver.

"Couldn't sleep." Staring down at the monitor Logan was proceeding to slide towards him, Alec rubbed his eyes, wondering if maybe he was feeling a little tired after all.

"Well, I don't think any of us will feel much like work today. But, we've gotta keep busy right?"

"Absolutely." Alec nodded absentminded. "Bags not doing anything that involves wading though sewers."

"Hey Alec, we were thinking perhaps of bringing Original Cindy and Sketchy back here to stay until this thing blows over. Maybe see if we can pick up my equipment from Joshua's house." Logan hesitated, awkward. Things had always been tense between the two of them, but now seemed the appropriate time for repairing things - even friendships that were tenacious to begin with. "Care to come along?"

Alec's expression melded into one of surprise, before he covered it over with his regular easy-going grin. "Sure thing Logan. Could do with some fresh air."

"Wait… when did we discuss this? You can't go out there!" Max strode toward Logan and stopped herself from reaching out to him. "If you haven't noticed, there's a damn virus out there knockin' people down!"

"Max, it's okay. We'll go straight to Jam Pony, and then on to Joshua's." Logan glanced to Alec. "No side trips to Blowfish Tavern."

Snorting, Alec grinned at Max although his words were directed at the older man. "It's okay buddy, the novelty of erotic dance wore off a looong time ago."

Making pains to ignore Alec's jibe, Max found a new angle of argument. "What about the thermal imaging gear White's men have out there? I thought we had an agreement that no transgenics leave Terminal City?"

Logan and Alec both opened their mouths to speak but Max rolled on, not giving them the opportunity to argue. "Alec if you get caught, they'll take Logan too."

"Yeah but come on Max, it's not like we're gonna be hangin' out on a street corner handing out 'I'm a transgenic' and 'I'm Eyes Only' pamphlets."

Logan shot Alec a perplexed sidelong look and turned to Max. "What he means is -"

"I _know _what he means!" Balking at her own irritation, Max's tone grew sombre as she added quietly, "just… don't forget what happened to Biggs."

The room fell silent, until Joshua hesitantly stepped forward with the words that stopped Max's argument dead in its tracks.

"But Max, if we leave Cindy and Sketch out there… they could _die_."

Folding her arms tightly across her chest, Max looked down at the ground. She felt torn. On one hand, she desperately wanted her friends here with her, but at the same time, the risk of losing either one of these men standing before her was far too high. But at the end of the day, it wasn't her decision to make.

"Fine." The words were barely a whisper. "But you better come back or you know I'll hunt you down and kick _both _your asses."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx . xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx . xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**12.25pm**

Max poked listlessly at the food on her plate. Reconstituted mashed potatoes. Yum.

In the days since word of the virus broke out, rations had become smaller. Going into the outside world for supplies meant something so much more dangerous than Ames White, thermal imaging equipment and public lynchings. They didn't know if transgenics were immune to this new virus, and they sure as hell didn't want to find out. And now Logan and Alec were out there facing all of this…

Beside her, Joshua was seemingly oblivious to her concerns, and far less hesitant about the quality of their meal, as he steadily shovelled in the forkfuls of lumpy white mush.

Soon he was finished, and looking sideways at Max's own plate. "You need to eat Max."

"I'm not hungry." The X5 swirled the fork through the muck a moment longer before sliding the plate towards her friend. "Here. You have it."

Max leaned back into her chair and let her head fall back as she stared unseeing at the cracks in the ceiling. She'd had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach since Logan and Alec left an hour earlier. For forty-five minutes she'd been telling herself it was pure anxiety, but as the dread increased, she began to wonder if it was intuition - if something was in fact wrong.

"Starving yourself isn't gonna make the food last any longer Max." Joshua pushed the plate back towards her. "Eat."

Sitting slowly back up, Max frowned at the sloppy pile of goop before her, and slid the plate back towards her friend. "I really can't eat it Joshua. I feel sick."

Shoving his chair back, Joshua stood up and began to lift the X5 from her seat. "Max sick? You might have the virus!"

Protesting, Max tried to fight off the transhuman, but his strength was greater than her own as he lifted her in his arms and began to carry her from the large warehouse next to headquarters that had been turned into a mess hall.

"Joshua no!" Her sharp tone snapped Joshua to attention and he stared at her, wide eyed as he slowly allowed her to regain her feet.

"It's not that. I'm just worried." Pushing her hair out of her face, Max glanced to Joshua and smiled. "Thanks for the concern Big Fella. But I'm fine. Really."

Awkward, Joshua nodded, his eyes on the floor. "Sorry Max."

"It's okay." Reaching out to rest her fingertips on his cheek, Max slid them down to his jaw line and forced him to lift his chin. "Look at me Joshua - I'm sorry I yelled. Thank you for the concern."

Grinning widely, the moment of hurt suddenly passing, Joshua beckoned towards the seats once more. "Well then… do you want to talk to me while I eat your food?"

"Sure thing Josh." Max nodded, relieved. "Talking sounds like a good thing to do right now."

Taking her seat once more, Max began to indulge in light hearted conversation with Joshua. She wondered in the back of her mind, if Joshua was more aware of her worries than she gave him credit for - and if he also realised she needed to talk about something else right now.

In fact Joshua probably needed the distraction just as much. If for nothing else, than to ignore the mental countdown they were both silently making, of the minutes since Alec and Logan had left Terminal City.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx . xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx . xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**1.10pm **

"Tell me again how you two managed to get your asses out of Terminal City? Sketch and I have been contemplating sneakin' in to check up on ya for days now. But _some _fool…" Original Cindy paused to point a thumb towards Sketchy, "is too scared to creep around the National Guard."

"Hey you don't know what they do to guys like me in their holding cells!" Seeing the way his friends turned to smirk at him, Sketchy reconsidered his words. "I mean, so I've heard… Anyway, I don't think that dude Mole likes me too much…"

Slamming her locker shut, Cindy gathered up the bundle of possessions important to a girl's survival that had been stored within, and flicked him on the head as she walked past. "He may look it, but Mole aint the creature from the Black Lagoon - he's not gonna gobble you up!"

Shaking his head in amusement, Alec slung his arms around Sketchy's shoulders. "Course he wouldn't. Unless uh… unless you looked at him the wrong way."

Releasing his friend, Alec exchanged grins with Logan and followed Cindy towards the Jam Pony entrance, ignoring Sketch as he hurried after him, with questions of "and how does that look go exactly?" flying from his mouth like a semi-automatic, until at last Alec turned to give an over-exaggerated demonstration.

At the dispatch counter, Original Cindy was making a final effort to convince Normal to come with them - or so it seemed. Her voice was raised, her words pleading - who would've guessed she cared so much? And Normal was shaking his head as adamantly as ever. Dedicated to the job, and not much else.

Though of course, once the approaching trio took in Cindy's words, they found themselves witnessing the more likely scenario.

"No payout! No no no! You cannot claim sick leave compensation if you are alive and kicking. In fact, you could go out there right now and catch yourself a killer virus, and I _still _would not give you compensation. Now _shoo_!"

Normal's tone of voice indicated to Alec that not much had changed since he'd left Jam Pony, and for a moment the transgenic felt a pang of homesickness as he looked around the building for what could quite possibly be the final time. It was amazing how this pit had come to feel like home over the months he had worked here.

Taking Cindy's place before the counter as she stomped away, Alec made a last ditch effort to convince the man he had come to regard as a friend of sorts, to leave. "Hey Normal, are you sure you won't come with us?"

"Look Golden Boy, there may be a plague upon all of our families going on out there, but I am not going to board up Jam Pony's doors and windows on account of a flesh eating disease!"

"Uh, Normal? It's not a flesh-eating dise-"

"Well, whatever. It's our policy to deliver the packages regardless of what storm may rage beyond these walls! In times like this, every parcel delivery company across Seattle are tucking their tails between their legs and running. There's a killing to be made right now Mr Hot Shot - a killing!"

"Yeah, right." Alec shook his head, realising the futility in even trying to talk some sense into his ex-boss.

Logan stepped up beside Alec and rested his elbows on the desk, leaning in to regard Normal intensely as he lowered his voice. "There sure is a real killing to be made - literally. Do you realise that with messengers accessing every neighbourhood and travelling to any Joe Blogs' door step, the chances of them contracting this virus is _that _much higher than anyone else?"

"I realise this Mr Cale. Therefore I've taken efforts to invest in these." From beneath his desk, Normal whipped out a cardboard box - of latex gloves. "Every Jam Pony messenger will be issued a pair of these babies a day." Beaming proudly at his ingenuity, Normal added, "you never know - it could _even _become a trend."

Blanching slightly, Logan floundered, realising the guy had a sound point - being that the virus was passed through skin contact. "A small army of latex clad bike messengers… great."

"Okay then folks. Now that we've sorted that out, I guess you'll be off then?" It's was more of a demand than a question, but as Normal looked to Alec, he passed him a look - almost of regret. "Can't stand about nattering all day can we?"

"Alrighty then." Alec looked to Logan and shrugged, realising it would take a demonic force to pry Normal's fingers from his desk. "Well, good luck Normal. I hope to see you around."

Normal nodded, his expression serious as he understood the undertone of Alec's words. "Well, just so you know. Your job here will always be waiting for you, if you ever return."

Stepping away, Alec smiled sadly. "Never thought I'd say it, but I kinda miss this place Normal - might just take you up on that offer."

Turning away at last, Alec followed Logan out the door, deciding he was going to memorise the wide beam on Normal's face forever.

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**4.28 pm **

The hours were ticking by so painfully slow. Max glanced down at her watch for the fifth time in thirty minutes. What a surprise - only five minutes had passed since the last time she'd checked. As much as she knew Alec and Logan were capable of taking care of themselves, she couldn't help but feel incredibly apprehensive.

It was still difficult to come to terms with knowing she was the inadvertent cause of this damn virus which was rampantly killing people across America. Sure, the messed up CDC lab tech who had tampered with her DNA was also to be held accountable, but he'd never have had an engineered virus to toy with in the first place had it not been for her. Hundreds of people were dying. And it was all her fault. Was this part of Sandeman's little prophesy?

"Max!"

A hand waved before Max's face and she jumped slightly, startled at being caught off-guard for not the first time in the past few days. Looking up into Mole's alien-like eyes, she shook away the feeling of being trapped eternally on the set of Star Trek Voyager and sat up further in her seat.

"What's the prob Mole?"

"Aside from the fact I've been standing here callin' you for a minute or so and you've stared through me like a zombie, there's a few new comers here." Mole paused for a moment before continuing. "One of em's sick."

Her eyes widening from shock, Max sprang from her chair. "What?!"

"Yup. There's a group of four X-series come through the sewers about an hour ago. One of them, an X6, had to be carried. They say he started running a fever a day or so ago."

"Where did they come from?"

"They were holed up in South Market for a while. Before that were hiding in an abandoned building by the docks."

Max said nothing and simply continued to stare blankly at the space between herself and Mole. Transgenics rarely became ill with anything. They had been designed with incredibly high immune systems and although these systems weren't infallible, sickness amid the transgenics was rare. She could probably say unheard of.

Perhaps if it had been a sick nomolie, her heart wouldn't be thumping quite so hard in her chest. After all, they were Sandeman's earlier experiments, results of his initial efforts to create an animal/human hybrid. At that point he was probably less concerned about their immunity, and more concerned about creating something capable of surviving more than a few days with such radically mixed genes.

"So while you're drifting off into la-la-land, I'll tell 'em to send the sick kid back into the sewers huh? Don't want his disease running through Terminal City…"

Mole's gruff voice broke Max from her thoughts and then the meaning of what he was saying sank in. "Isolation! He can go into isolation until we figure out what's going on."

"What?" The transhuman turned back towards her. "Look Max, I know you wanna save every lost freakin' soul that comes through here, but _this _one could kill us all."

"Well we're just gonna have to take that chance Mole!"

Despite the fact that Mole's facial expressions were even more limited than Max's own, he still managed to look incredulous. "_We_? Max you're the only one here willing to put all of our lives in danger. D'you wanna carry the guilt of our deaths as well as every ordinary out there dead and dying?"

There is was. The feeling of dread Max had been carrying was now coming to fruition. Here she had been fearing for the two men she had said goodbye to this morning, when the real risk lay in wait for so many others.

Once again she could only see the small radius around her, and not the wider perimeter that engulfed the rest of the world. And now the rest of the world was right here, entering the small radius, intruding upon her comfort zone, threatening _everyone _she knew and loved. And it had all started from within herself.


	3. Chapter 3

**E M P T Y . W O R L D**

**B y . S o r r o w . R e m i n i s c e**

**. x . x . x .**

**9 June, 2022  
9.23am**

Max placed her hands against the wall of the building she had quarantined the group of newcomers to the previous day, and leant in, resting her forehead against the rough concrete surface. She had won the verbal battle held with Mole over whether these transgenics should stay or go - they had at last agreed that the entire group would be quarantined until the sick X6 had recovered.

On top of that, upon Alec and Logan's return, Mole had insisted that Original Cindy and Sketchy be placed in isolation too in case they'd contracted the virus while delivering packages. He'd all but suggested Logan and Alec be segregated along with them. Max had grudgingly agreed to have her two Jam Pony friends kept in quarentine, knowing it was best to be cautious considering the seriousness of the problem. But it made her feel as if 'gaoler' had become a title to add to her list of Terminal City credentials.

Nearby, Mole regarded Max with a certain measure of detachment. With the exception of the few X5's he'd come to know personally, the transhuman had never developed affection towards the X-series. He would have been just as happy to send these newcomers back to where they came from. Hell, send them to the charred ruins of Manticore for all he cared. Better to turn away a few of their own, than to sacrifice hundreds upon the altar of sentimentality.

But of course, _Max _was too damn 'human' for her own good. For _their _own good. And as with all things that could be attributed to 'damn human emotion', Mole just knew that bad things were going to come of these infected transgenics being here.

"Come on then." Max strode past Mole, her voice matter-of-fact as she pushed herself back into 'leader' mode. "Guess we better find some way to feed these guys."

"We?" Mole grunted the question under his breath as he turned to follow the X5 back to headquarters, knowing he wasn't going to get an answer.

As the rundown warehouse that the transgenics had converted into a mess hall came into sight, Max halted in her tracks. "Wait. You go on, organise some rations for them. I'm going to the Infirmary to see how we're going for medical supplies."

"Why?" Mole turned to find himself speaking to Max's retreating back, as she had already began to make her way to the tall grey building a few streets over. "Oh yeah just walk away… typical."

Max blocked out the sound of the transhuman's grumbles as she picked up her pace. A strange sickly feeling was snaking around her stomach, and with every step she took, the feeling grew. There was too much to think about, she couldn't handle going back to HQ and facing the assorted queries of everyone right now. Maybe Mole was right, maybe she shouldn't have allowed a sick transgenic here with all they had at stake, but it was too late now. She'd just have to face whatever might come, and hope her shoulders were strong enough to take the responsibility.

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**6.13pm **

A small group of transgenics stood behind Logan and watched as he hacked his way into the Centre of Disease Control's main computer. Even Dix, who spent much of his time finding things to fix, marvelled that the human had been able to achieve this from the computer equipment they'd salvaged around Terminal City, and the nifty theft of a phone line by a few technically savvy, and particularly sneaky transgenics.

"Logan, what are we doing again?"

"Just making sure they're not giving us the run around." Logan murmured the words as his fingers flashed across the keyboard, threading his way through access codes, firewalls and whatever other security measures the CDC had tried to take to keep out people like him.

"And you're making this seem incredibly easy because?" This remark was made by Mole, who also stood transfixed at Logan's shoulder, watching his actions as if witnessing Houdini in action.

"Because some idiot in their department has obviously been siphoning off funding that was otherwise meant to go towards upgrading their security system." Logan paused to grunt with mirth. "Since '83 from the looks of it."

Max had finally crept out from her retreat in the infirmary, and now smiled to see Logan truly in his element, watching the way he chewed his lip as he concentrated upon the task at hand.

"And why do we need to keep tabs?" Alec wandered over to join the small group clustered around the computer, half realising the answer even as he asked the question.

"There's a good chance that if they _do _find a cure to the virus, we won't be the ones to receive it." Max glanced down at her watch, 8.16pm.

"It's been over twenty-four hours since they first reported in…" Pausing to check that those in the room knew of the possible cure, Max continued, "They should have concise results by now. Surely."

"I dunno Max, maybe they want to be 100 and give it 24 hours or so?" Alec shrugged. "I mean, what's another hundred deaths in the meantime?"

Those in the room stopped to stare at Alec and he held up his hands in entreat. "Hey, I didn't mean it literally!"

Stuffing his hands in his pockets, Alec looked around the room, making a studied effort to find something else he could divert the discussion towards.

"Logan, why are you taking out the garbage?"

Joshua's question caused everyone to turn their attention to the computer once more. Logan was busy searching though the CDC's Recycle Bin.

"Well Big Fella, he's doing his bit for the environment. It's all part of fighting the good fight, you know?" Joshua's forehead creased in confusion, and Alec laughed, resting a casual elbow on his shoulder as he leant in and whispered conspiringly, "because that's often where people think they can sneakily hide their important files."

"Ah. I understand." The dog-boy nodded, not understanding at all and looking to Max for help in the matter.

"Shut up smart ass." Delivering a punch to Alec's arm and laughing as a mock expression of pain crossed his face, Max signalled to Joshua that she'd explain later, and turned to the man at the computer. "So have you found anything Logan?"

"Give me just a minute…" Clicking out of the Recycle Bin and going into a freshly restored folder, Logan then proceeded to search through the subfolders, until at last he came across one that triggered a "bingo!"

Suddenly Logan found himself boxed in by six transgenics eagerly thinking that cramming their noses against the monitor would get the files opened that much faster.

"Space people. Please!"

With an almost collective sigh, Max, Alec, Mole, Joshua, Luke and Dix stepped back.

"Thank you. Now, I just need to figure out the encryption codes, and we'll be in with a grin." Stopping to consider his words, Logan added, "I hope."

"And what do we do if they're pulling the wool over our eyes?" Luke's question seemed incredibly naïve for a transgenic. But then, he had been designed to dig trenches, not hack into top secret files.

"We break in and steal our share of the cure of course!" Max looked to Alec and winked. "I'm up for some good old fashioned B&E. How 'bout you?"

"Why Max, it would be my pleasure!" Alec's grin wavered as he thought about the possibility of there _not _being a cure for them to break in and lay partial claim to. His mood turned suddenly serious. "So what's the death count out there so far?"

The room fell silent, even Logan's typing ceased, as they waited upon Dix's answer to the question no one bar Alec had dared to ask until now. Dix was the only one who'd been willing bear the bad news, and closely monitor all news broadcasts.

"By 11pm last night it was two hundred and twenty. The body count across America has been notched up another hundred or so since yesterday, but that's going to quadruple in the next few days when those already sick and dying in the hospitals succumb to it, and so on."

The nomolie waited for a reaction, but when he was met by nothing but stunned expressions, he continued. "This virus is pretty damn scary guys. I mean, a couple hours ago, there was a hospital in Northern Carolina calling for the government to help with their patient overload."

Joshua cleared his throat and spoke up, "how are they getting sick? Why are they getting sick so fast?"

"The virus is spread through skin contact - just like with Max and Logan. But worse. Now it's not simply targeted specifically to one person. People have been thinking they have the flu, and when they break out into ulcers, they think it's an allergic reaction to the antibiotics their doctor's prescribe. By the time they have the ulcers, they're well and truly contagious. Basically, they're sharing this bitch around like it's a game of pass the parcel, and by the time they realise there's something seriously wrong, they've already given the gift to a dozen others."

"Max, how are OC and Sketch doing?" Logan regarded her evenly, refusing to let the fear he felt show in his eyes, knowing Max was finding it hard to cope already.

"Uh, they're fine." Max nodded quickly, her eyes darting to the others - to Mole in particular.

The reptile-like transgenic let out a very un-lizard-like growl, the cigar bobbing up and down in his mouth as he rumbled, "and what about the X6?"

"Chris? Not so fine." Swallowing back a lump of anxiety, Max admitted that which she'd been trying to deny since the evening had progressed into darkness. "I checked on the group a couple of hours ago. They're pretty scared - Chris has been burning up with fever since about three o'clock, and he's getting worse."

"Max, I don't think it's a good idea that you expose yourself to whatever it is they might be carrying."

Although Logan had a valid point, Max could see no other alternative. "So better to risk another transgenic? Look, we can't let them just starve in there, and I don't think I should delegate the responsibility of looking after them to someone else, when I'm the one who insisted they stay."

"But you're too important to risk!"

"Would you like to pick someone out and tell them they're expendable?" Holding Logan's eyes in a silent battle of wills, Max sighed as he at last diverted his eyes. She wished she could go back to the good old days of simply stressing over Ames White. Life seemed so much simpler then. "Now do you see what I mean?"

"I'll do it Max." Joshua spoke up, his voice gentle but firm. "I think I'll be okay."

"It's not airborne, is it?" This question came from Luke. "I don't mind checking up on them. I mean, if I don't touch them, I don't have any danger of catching it, right?"

"Yeah but the virus keeps mutating. That's half the reason why the CDC are finding little luck in beating this thing. It's not airborne today, but it may be tomorrow."

Unwilling to let anyone else undertake the task she felt responsible for, Max continued to deflect any other scapegoat the others offered her. Instead she drew attention back to the current task at hand. "Look, I don't want to talk about this anymore. I've made my decision, I'm sticking to it, and I seriously advice that the subject be dropped _right now_."

Max's gaze swept across them, steely with determination as she silently dared someone to argue, while hoping no one would take up the challenge. Her body ached with fatigue, and a verbal showdown was the last thing she could cope with right now. Fortunately, those before her turned their eyes away one by one, deciding it was a topic best dealt with while wearing full body armour and balls of brass.

"We need to concentrate on finding out what the CDC know - and whether they're hiding it from us." Softening her tone, Max forced a smile for the sake of morale, and looked to Logan. "How's it going?"

"Huh?" Raising his eyebrows quizzically, Logan looked blankly at Max until he realised she was inquiring about his attempts to hack into the CDC's database. Turning back to the computer, Logan scanned the screen and resumed his task. "Yeah it shouldn't be long now. How 'bout you guys just give me some space, and I'll let you know when I've found something?"

Behind him, the group at last dispersed, each drifting away to do their own thing. Max lingered behind and pulled up a chair, spinning it around backwards and sliding onto it beside Logan, her arms resting against the chair's back. Silently she regarded him for a few moments, awkward at first, until he shot her a sidelong look and a quick smile.

Letting out a quiet breath of relief, Max felt the tension drain out of her system - just a little. For so many months, their friendship had become stretched to breaking point. They had exchanged one kind of dance for another and the tune had changed to one neither could identify. The last thing she'd be able to bear right now, would be for him to turn her away altogether.

"How are you holding up Max?" Breaking into her thoughts, Logan's fingers stopped their tapping against the keyboard, and he turned towards her, his expression one of cautionary care.

Max hesitated, wondering whether to go for the carefully screened answer laced with false optimism, or bare honesty. Knowing Logan would see the truth behind her words regardless, she forced a weak smile and replied, "well I've seen better days."

Nodding, Logan moved his hands as if to reach out and comfort her, before catching himself and curling them instead into fists upon his lap, a torn look on his face. ""We'll get through this Max. I promise. We've gone through so much together, we can get -"

Realising he was speaking more of their own situation, than that which was going on around them, Logan held in the words that had become a mantra where his relationship with Max was concerned. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean _us.."_

"It's okay Logan." The words burst out of Max's mouth, smothering Logan's apologies. "I understand."

Silence hovered between them, and with it, a myriad of unspoken words. Max's gaze swept Logan, noticing the slight perspiration at his brow. Her heart jumped to her throat. "How about you, are you feeling okay?"

Hesitating just a moment, Logan nodded. "Yeah I'm fine. Just a bit anxious about…" Waving his hands towards the computer, Logan searched his head for the words that had suddenly left his head. "You know. Everything."

"Yeah." Smiling genuinely now, Max felt a spark of their old undefinable relationship once more - their way of understanding each other without necessarily needing the words to do so.

"So uh, how's things with Alec?" As Max's smile fell, Logan silently kicked himself for asking. Why couldn't he just have let sleeping dogs lie? Why did he have to keep torturing himself like this?

"Oh. Good. Fine." There it was. The increasingly familiar wedge driven between them once again. Max sighed inwardly. "Well, I'll let you get back to what you're doing. Let me know when and if you find something?"

She hesitated, half-hoping Logan would ask her to stay, knowing he would let her go. And when he nodded in response and at last tore his eyes away, she rose to her feet, whispering a good night as she turned her back and walked away.

Slipping past the others, Max mumbled an excuse for leaving, and made her way out of HQ. As she wandered through the streets of Terminal City, the darkness folded around her, enveloping her in its anonymity. Making her wish desperately that she could just sneak right out of this prison and escape to the comfort of the Space Needle.

Looking over the city of Seattle from atop of that great height, she had always been able to perceive life's problems with a clearer mind. It was as if she was viewing the whole forest, instead of just the trees that surrounded her. And the path that lay ahead was always that much clearer when she could step out of the situation and inspect life's twists and turns from afar.

Why was it that she, a genetically engineered soldier, bred to be strong, and created to rise above the confinements of human emotion - was the one quietly collapsing from within? After all, wasn't she meant to be a leader? Wasn't it her duty to set an example?

The questions Max asked herself were bitter. Zack was the leader. Zack was the soldier. She was never meant to be any of these things. Runes or no runes.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author Note: **You have no idea how many times I have picked up this chapter with every intention of posting it, then dissatisfied with my _final_ final proof-read, it's gone back into the pile of 'things to fix up one day'. That particular pile is a really bad place to end up. Most stories simply get ignored for all eternity. The really unfortunate ones get treated to the rewrite of a sentence or two. Of course, that turns into a complete 'makeover' of the entire thing. Before you know it, I've add in parts that are no longer consistant with the previous chapters, or the later chapters that are all ready completed (pretty much) and then I have to sit there with my head in my hands crying,_ 'why why why? What have I done! What was I thinking?!' _as suddenly the puzzle's filled with a bunch of pieces that just don't fit! But, because I've gone to all the blumin' effort of writing the extra scenes, I'm adament that I'm gonna squish them in there anyway. URGH!. _Okay, take a deep breath... _All in all, the entire end and most of the middle of this story has been completed for a long time - 'cept for the segment where I haven't quite yet figured out what to do with Alec. There will be the next stumbling block where I unravel the cardigan all over again... Wish me luck.

* * *

**  
**

**E M P T Y . W O R L D**

**B y . S o r r o w . R e m i n i s c e**

**. x . x . x . x .**

**11 June, 2022 **

Eight days had passed since the grossly-mutated strain of Hanta virus broke free from a CDC laboratory, and the death toll in Seattle alone was now at nineteen hundred. Unlike the original strain, this virus was highly contagious, and all efforts to contain it were failing.

So far, the Centre for Disease Control had found no antigen in transgenic blood work to combat the ever-spreading disease. They had tested it against the original pathogen, with positive results. But these new cases were different, the virus evolving faster than the scientists could work on a cure.

Within Terminal City's own newly erected quarantine area, Chris, the young X6 who had only entered the small transgenic nation the previous day, had now slipped into a coma. There was no evidence of the weeping sores on his flesh, unlike all other cases recorded in humans so far, but there was little doubt that he had contracted the virus which had steadily cut it's way across America in a frighteningly small amount of time. All in all, it indicated the worst case scenario for the residents of TC: Manticore hadn't made transgenics immune to _all_ bio-warfare agents after all.

For Max, the virus that had once threatened only Logan, had become a juggernaut; bigger and more powerful than ever before. This time threatening everyone; everyone she was in her very creation, intended to protect.

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**8.47am**  
"We need to report his condition to the CDC. It's the only way we can know for sure -"

"Out of the question! There's no way I'm letting one of my own be a guinea pig to those bastards!"

"Max, 'those bastards' are our only hope of solving this! They need to know what's going on!"

"He's _genetically engineered_ Logan. We know what they did with my DNA sample - what d'ya think they'll do if they get their hands on a living transgenic? Think curing the virus will be their top priority?"

"Don't be ridiculous Max. They're the Centre for Disease Control. They're not out to steal billion dollar military technology."

"How can you be so sure?"

The argument had been going on for the past hour. Although Max and Logan were behind closed doors, in a private office, their ever-raising voices were plainly heard by all standing on the other side of the door.

Alec had found himself silently taking both sides at different times throughout the hour. He understood Max's caution - he didn't like to think of handing over one of his own to a government body anymore than Max did. But at the same time, he could see Logan's point. During the night, the cyber-journalist had cracked the CDC's computer system, and found they were indeed still struggling to formulate any kind of vaccine. Any information as to the nature of the virus was crucial to them. The fact that it was triggering new and unpredictable symptoms in the X6 was vital information that shouldn't be held back.

But what if the CDC demanded not only DNA samples for their next batch of tests, but living transgenics as their lab pets? After all, they hardly cared for the best interests of the transgenics, who were deemed by many to be less than human, and therefore expendable. What better way for them to study the virus, than to inject it into transgenics and watch it's mutation process advance?

There were far too many 'what ifs'.

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**9.10am**  
Logan was on the phone to the CDC, having won the battle - for now. As Max had predicted, the voice on the other line wanted more than a verbal explanation of the symptoms - he wanted the X6 himself. And Logan was negotiating.

Max sat on a chair across the room, glaring at Logan and wringing her hands. She remembered too clearly how it felt to leave Brin dying on a park bench, awaiting Lydecker and his men as they came to collect her. Lydecker ensured that she recovered from the advanced progeria, but he had also ensured her reindoctrine into the ranks of Manticore. The knowledge that she had given her sister back to the enemy had broken Max's heart. But given the givens, she'd almost be happier giving this X6 back to Manticore, than to give him up to the CDC.

Alec and Joshua sat on either side of Max. Neither knew the story of Brin, but they both understood her turmoil. Could they live with themselves if they allowed one of their own to be placed in the hands of scientists who'd be all to happy to have a transgenic lab pet on hand? Could they live with themselves if they held him back, and in doing so held back a possible cure for this disease?

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**10.27am**  
In the end, it was Logan's hacking cough that had made the decision. Waving away Max's concern, Logan claimed to have merely swallowed his water too fast as he bent double at his computer desk and coughed like a pack-a-day smoker.

The realisation that she may actually lose someone close to her through all this spurred Max into gritting her teeth and agreeing to release the X6 into the hands of the CDC. She found no resistance from those within her close circle, and the silent nod from Alec confirmed they had approved of Logan's suggestion all along. They were just waiting for her to come around and accept it.

The headquarters of Terminal City was now bathed in silence, despite the half dozen people sitting within it. Each pondered the fate of the X6, as well as that of their own selves. Logan's cough had subsided, but the light film of sweat on his brow was new.

"Can I have a word?"

The voice at Max's ear caught her off-guard as she gazed out of the window and across the rooftops of Terminal City. She turned, startled, and met Alec's hazel eyes as he crouched beside her.

"What's up?"

Alec hesitated, swept his eyes across the room and glanced quickly away when he saw Logan watching them. "Best if we step outside a minute."

Once outside, they continued walking towards the block of deserted apartments a transgenic work team had begun to clear for habitation some weeks earlier. Reluctant to speak for once, Alec shoved his hands deep into his pockets as he at last came to stop inside a doorway and took a deep breath, preparing himself.

"You think Logan has it, don't you?"

Alec clamped his half-open mouth shut and scratched the back of his head. It was exactly what he was thinking, but now that Max had been the one to say it aloud, he felt a need to downplay the suggestion. "It's probably too soon…"

"No. It's what you were gonna say, isn't it?"

For once, her tone wasn't argumentative, and Alec studied his friend for a moment, taking in the weariness that hollowed out her eyes.

"Max, you need to rest…"

"Don't change the subject Alec! You think Logan has this disease, don't you?"

Her words reverberated off the surrounding buildings but Alec didn't flinch from the anger which had flared to life within her at last. He could handle her anger. It was the unspoken despair he found harder to deal with.

"Okay, yes. The thought has sprung to mind. There's the cough, the sweat. And he's had a fluctuating temperature all afternoon. "

Max looked to him in surprise. "Really? I never noticed. Are you sure?"

"Could all but feel the heat radiating off him at times when I was workin' alongside him."

Wrapping her arms around herself, Max chewed her lip and closed her eyes tight as if by doing so she could shut out Alec's concerns. "Maybe it's just nothing. Maybe it's just a cold. I can't understand how he can get sick. Not here. He hasn't been exposed to anyone…"

"He came with me to get OC and Sketch, remember?" Alec whispered the words, as if they would hurt less for being softly spoken. "We could've brushed against a dozen carriers on the journey. I'm sorry Max."

Max slumped against the doorway, and leant her head back against the brick, silent for several moments as Alec's words sank in. Finally, she murmured, "maybe he's just overworked. He's been having so many late nights…"

"Yeah, maybe." Alec gave a tight smile and tried to swallow his doubt. "We'll keep an eye on him, just in case."

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**12.40pm**  
"OC, I don't think bringing you and Sketch here to TC was the safest option after all."

Max sat on the arm of the couch in the ramshackle apartment her two Jam Pony friends had been holed up in since their arrival the day before. Sketchy had taken it upon himself to write memoirs of his life within transgenic central and was hard at work punching out words on an old-fashioned typewriter Dix had dug out for him.

Unable to face what she felt sure would be an accusing stare, Max kept her eyes downcast and thought yet again of how she had bought this down upon everyone by escaping Manticore the second time - if not the first. Renfro had warned her that she was poison, but neither of them understood the magnitude of that statement at the time. Not until now.

"Boo, look at me." Original Cindy stepped forward, but the transgenic refused to meet her eyes. "Seems to me there's no way to hide from this bitch, and no cure. I'm a Jam Pony messenger - out there, I'd get sick as quick as I might in here. You know that right?"

At those words, Max raised her eyes, a protest hovering on her lips.

"Listen to me okay? I'd rather die here surrounded by you and Alec and everyone I've come to know and love, than out there in the cold - alone. And I'm sure Sketchy feels that way too. Right Sketch?"

"Uh huh" The amateur reporter spared Max a quick grin before returning his attention to the letter 'e' which refused to adhere itself to his sheet of paper.

Original Cindy's expression was solemn, and utterly sincere. Max shrugged off her defences and stepped forward to hug her friend, relief overcoming guilt for a fleeting moment.

"OC, I'm so afraid. I don't know if I can be strong enough for this" They were words she wouldn't dare utter to any but her closest confidante, but it was a weight she'd felt press against the inside of her chest from the first moment she'd realised Sandeman's shroud of darkness had settled itself over the world.

"Boo, you the strongest girl I know. You'll survive this bitch, don't worry about that."

"It's not my survival I'm worried about. It's everyone else's."

That was something that for the moment, Original Cindy couldn't think of an honest answer for.

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**1.35pm**  
Mole, Alec and Dix sat around the table in headquarters and listened with sceptical interest to the words of a transgenic who had come to them with the first idea to offer any kind of hope against the virus. To restore Sandeman's laboratory.

"You're saying curing this virus is right in your area of expertise?" Alec was doubtful. He'd never heard of Manticore creating transgenics to work alongside their scientists.

Rose, the transgenic in question, was one of Terminal City's later citizens. Although she was confident that she had a good chance of cooking up a vaccine, she'd been in a state of indecision for several days over whether to share her plan. Her purpose at Manticore hadn't so much been to make breakthroughs in the creation of the latest human weapon, but rather in the creation of the latest bio-warfare agent. Not that she was eager to share that particular snippet of information anytime soon, being that it was she who had helped to turn Logan's blood into a virus which could kill him.

"I can't make promises, but I think I have as good a shot of creating a vaccine as anyone else. The dilemma lies in getting my hands on the stuff I need. A lot of Sandeman's equipment has degenerated over time…"

"So we need to make a hit on a lab?"

"It's our best chance."

Mole slapped his hand down on the table. "I'm in. Bein' holed up in this damn place is makin' my scales crawl. You in Alec? Be a nice change to take a stroll through Seattle, do some window shoppin', admire some fine as-"

"What about the risk of contamination? You gonna put yourself into quarantine when you get back?"

Mole gave Dix a withering look. "Think I'm gonna be brushin' up against any humans out there?"

The transhuman shrugged. "Well, you're not exactly inconspicuous. Maybe we should talk to Max, see if she'll go?"

"Max has other things to deal with right now." Alec stated quietly. "Mole and I will make the run."

"That's it then." Pushing his chair back with an enthusiastic screech, Mole displayed as broad a grin as a half-man half-reptile could muster, and started towards the door. "Give us a list of what you need. We'll go tonight."

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**3.15pm**  
"No you damn well won't!" Max strode Alec's room as leafed through a stack of various building plans kept in a box beneath his bed.

"Max, I don't recall having you ask you for permission to go outside." Giving an 'ah-huh!' of accomplishment, he pulled clear the particular blueprint he had been searching for, and studiously avoided Max as he began to look it over.

"Yeah well, things have changed, if you haven't noticed. You were lucky to make it back the last time." Exasperated as he continued to ignore her, Max added a little too fervently, "I need you here Alec."

Alec raised an eyebrow, "since when have you ever needed me for anything Max?" Seeing her flat refusal to answer his question, he continued. "Or are you just pissed because we made a decision without including you?"

"If you go out there, you won't come back."

After a moment of studying the moody transgenic before him, Alec realised her concern was, for once, genuine. "We were made for this kind of thing, remember? We can handle it."

"They've imposed a curfew to keep people off the streets. How do you propose to get around that? How will Mole get half a block without someone opening fire on the 'freak'?"

"I'll sort something out with Mole. Look, I hate to be the bellringer of doom or anything, but this could be our best chance - for survival. Have you looked out at the city skyline in the evenings lately?" Max shook her head and dropped her gaze from his face to a speck of dust to his right. "They burning bodies on bonfires, as far as the eye can see. This disease could destroy us Max. And if we don't do something to save ourselves, it will."

"There's a hundred other transgenics here just as capable of doing this mission as you, why do you have to go?"

Alec thought about her question for a moment and then broached one of his own. "What's happened to the old Max? The one who believes in taking the bull by its horns? Just a few days ago you were keen to break into a government building, and now you're baulking at a mere pharmaceuticals?"

He smiled playfully to try and lighten his inquisition. "When did cat-burglar turn scaredy-cat?"

Scaredy-cat? Max's temper flared at the question and impulsively she curled her hand into a fist, ready to knock the smart-ass right off Alec's face. But it was futile. She could kick his ass around the room, and he'd still be expecting an answer at the end of it all. Thing was, it was a valid point, if she could humble herself enough to admit it.

Maybe the answer lay in Max's complete lack of control over the situation. The lack of solidity in her enemy. Manticore she could tackle. Lydecker's TAC teams had been a joke. She could walk into a building they had surrounded, and saunter out dressed as one of their own, with a child in her arms. Renfro with all her efforts to break her, had never succeeded. White had been an unpleasant surprise, but one she had ultimately stripped to his underwear and taped to a post.

The virus that had threatened the life of Logan time and time again, had shaken her to her core. It had terrorised her every time she stood in the same room and Logan. It had invaded her every cell. Still, she had found a way around it - by giving up the one she loved.

But this, this was beyond anything she had been trained for, and she had no idea how to deal with the feeling of utter helplessness it left her with.

The crux of the problem, however, lay in the phone call she'd received while Alec held council over Sandeman's laboratory. The words of Dr George had been brief, and to the point. The X6, Chris, had died within two hours of his arrival. Long enough for them to confirm he not only had the virus, but it had again recreated itself into a new form once within him.

Worse still, the results of Max's blood sample indicated that she was no more immune to the virus than anyone else.

Not only did it reaffirm the doubts she held about herself, but it proved that Sandeman had been wrong. She was not the messiah who would save the world. She had become the very shroud of darkness he had created her to prevent.

Of course, no one else would say that, but Max knew it was true.

Manticore had tried everything to bring her down, but in the end it was an anonymous, seemingly unimportant lab techie who had crushed Max's iron-cast spirit. By deciding to investigate the virus within her DNA. By discovering why she was a carrier of it, and how he could use this to his advantage. And now, as a consequence, the world suffered because of him. Because of Manticore.

And ultimately, because of Max.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note:** Urgh. I can sympathise with the script writers for _Lost_. Except I don't have anyone telling me to drag this out. Unfortunately I'm doing that of my own accord. One of my cats has been helping me with this, by sitting on my knee and splaying her paws out across the keyboard at every opportunity. Thanks Karma. Your breath stinks like 'Ocean Fish Platter'. Anyway, I have to post this chapter NOW before I attempt to 'proof read' again and spend another few months chopping and changing things. Being my own beta-reader really sucks!

Ten points to anyone who can spot my rip-off off a scene from a current TV series, and a further ten points to the one who can point out the Alec alter-ego name and fan fic author I borrowed it from.

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**E M P T Y . W O R L D**

**B y . S o r r o w . R e m i n i s c e**

**. x . x . x . x .**

**13 June, 2002  
8.38am**

Max gazed down at Logan as he slept fitfully, and stopped herself from reaching out to brush away the strands of hair that clung to his clammy forehead. Instead she watched as Alec did the job for her, and forced a sad smile of thanks. A few hours earlier, he had begun to run a slight temperature. Nothing too serious, no cause for concern. Until he slumped forward in his seat over lunch and passed out in his ration of rice.

"Are you sure you never touched him? Brush his hand over dinner maybe?"

Wincing slightly, Max raised her eyes to meet Dix's, and gave a small nod. "I'm sure. Besides, the symptoms are different."

"Well, I better get this sample off to the CDC, they're still our only chance right now. But my optimistic longshot is; maybe he's just been working too hard." The nomolie capped Logan's blood sample and turned towards the door. "Dude's been running late nights. Never seems to get any sleep."

"Yeah, sure. Maybe he just needs a rest." Max whispered the words absently, feeling Alec's eyes bore into her as he stood in the doorway. She knew he was thinking of the argument they'd had the night before, and how she had stopped him from hitting a pharmaceutical lab.

"He needs to go to the hospital Alec, but the hospital isn't safe either." Max whispered the words as she sank down into a chair and rested her head in her hands.

Alec walked around the bed and lifted her chin with a gentle fingertip, "It's gonna be okay. Like Dix said, Logan's been running long hours trying to hack info from the CDC, maybe he's just run himself into the ground and needs a rest or something."

But 'something' was the ominous word that continued to hang in the air.

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**11.08am**

"Okay, fine. I'll agree to your plan, but there's a condition."

Alec, intent on pushing pins into a map, froze in mid-action as Max's words washed over him. The hand continued to hover over Nevada as he waited for her to reach his side.

"Well, don't you wanna know what it is?"

Placing the drawing pin on the table, Alec slowly turned to face Max. "Uhhh huh… sure." More enthusiastically this time, and with a forced grin to boot. "Go for it."

Max hesitated for only a moment before ploughing on. "Choose two of our best. Not including yourself. I doubt they'll have to worry about the thermal scanners, we're the least of Seattle's worry right now. Just make sure they get in and get - what? What is it?"

Finally picking up that Alec's hesitance to meet her eyes was not due to bashfulness, Max stopped laying down her guidelines and sensed there was something already going on beneath her nose. "Spit it out Alec!"

"Well ya see Max, it's like this…" With one hand propping him against the table top and the other scrubbing across the back of his neck, Alec radiated bravery as he cleared his throat and delivered the news. "Team's already been sent out. Bout an hour ago."

"Under whose authority?" Max drew herself taller and folded her hands across her chest.

"Mine."

"Yours?"

"Yeah Max. Mine. See, I knew you'd come around after admitting to yourself Logan's not really just a little run down right now, so anticipating your change of priorities, I sent out a couple of Manticore's finest to bring back everything Rose needs to make a decent shot at curing this bitch. More of a risk in daylight, but we figured there's no time to lose." Alec took pause of breath to study Max's body language. A shift in weight told a lot about whether or not she was gonna lunge.

"Oh." Max seemed to wear dismay and relief in the same expression. "Okay then."

"Okay? That's all ya have for me? No stomping of feet? No gnashing of teeth?" Raising an eyebrow in disbelief, Alec took a step towards Max and held a hand to her forehead. "You alright in there?"

Max turned her head away and batted aside his hand. "What else do you want? A medal, or a chest to pin it on? "

Alec blinked. "A medal would be nice."

Casting her eyes across Alec's map, Max winced and looked away. "You're right Alec. I admit Logan's really damn sick right now, and I admit that may be the motivating force needed for me to risk a few of us making this run. And maybe part of me's glad you took the initiative. That way if something goes wrong out there, I can say it's not entirely my fault. I can say there's one aspect of this whole damn mess that wasn't caused by me."

"Is that what you think Max? That this is all your fault?" Alec held his hands out in bewilderment and dropped them again. This wasn't the reaction he had expected. "I'm no Uncle Monty but I can see this sense of guilt you're harbouring is a little outta proportion. I don't know how many times it has to be said, but you're not to blame here. And seeing you skulk around like a leper isn't doing anyone any favours."

Max offered a weak smile. "Think I should shape up or ship out?"

"Now you're thinkin' like a soldier." Alec grinned and punched her playfully on the arm. "Stick with me long enough and I'll impart my wit and cunning."

"Hey!" Max shoved him back. "You're lucky I'm not harbouring a grudge about you going behind my back - again."

"Which reminds me… What was the condition?"

"Huh?"

"You said you'd agree to the mission - but with a condition."

Max faltered. Diffident. "Nothing much. Just comes back to what I said last night. I didn't want you to be on the team."

Alec cocked his head to one side and smirked. "Care about me that much eh?"

"In your dreams." Her mood lightened by the banter, Max turned her back on Alec and crossed to the door. "Just didn't wanna lose my punching bag."

"Punching bag!" Alec's shout bounced off the closing door and he shook his head and chuckled at an empty room. "She cares."

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**6.15pm**

A dreary 1pm meeting with Mole regarding the ever-present dilemma of dwindling food supplies was for Max, almost a welcome respite from thoughts of slow death and mass extinction.

After checking on Logan and finding no change to his condition, she recalled Alec's comparison of her to a skulking leper and decided to do the rounds on the rest of Terminal City's inhabitants. Everyone worked off a roster with salvage, clean up and sentry duties being swapped like trading cards. Thus occupied, many transgenics were relatively unconcerned by the plague that ravaged the world beyond TC's perimeter fence. The news of the X6's demise had been kept low key enough for many to still believe themselves immune. Max decided not to dispel their beliefs.

Sketchy was eventually located in The Immigrant; Terminal City's only functioning bar which an eager group of transgenics (led by Alec) had restored to it's former glory.

"Heya Max!"

Her former Jam Pony co-worker flashed a grin as he turned from the bar with a jug of beer in hand, and inclined his head towards a table.

"Hey Sketch." Max slipped onto a stool and waited as he returned to the bar for an extra handle. "Drinkin' alone tonight? Where's OC?"

"Just missed her by about five minutes, dude." He slopped beer over the rim of the glass as his attention was momentarily caught by a passing X5 blonde, and beamed foolishly as she smiled back, before realising she was laughing at his spillage.

"I haven't seen my girl all day! She okay?"

Sketchy shrugged. "She was feelin' a bit off-colour, figured she'd call it an early night."

"What do you mean? What are her symptoms?" Max's pushed the beer away and made to stand. "No, don't bother telling me, I'll go check on her myself."

"No worries dude, she just said she felt tired. A bit worn out by all the chillin in front of a telly that doesn't go. Kinda takes a lot out of a person, ya know." Sketchy pushed the beer back towards his friend. "Come on man, have a drink with me. Don't make me sit here and drink alone. Again."

Smiling as her friend made sad puppy eyes, Max picked up her drink and knocked it against Sketchy's own. "Bottoms up, but just this one and then I'll check on OC."

True to her word, Max was just making to leave fifteen minutes later when Alec entered and caught her by the arm, his voice low and urgent as he murmured, "better get back to the infirmary. Logan's awake."

"Awake? That should be a good thing - so why aren't you smiling Alec?" Despite his poker face, Max could read sympathy in her friend's eyes, and that was enough to cause panic to churn her stomach. "What aren't you telling me?"

Ignoring her questions, he nodded briefly in greeting to Sketch before ushering Max out of the bar. "Just go - hurry, while he's still… awake."

Her eyes searching Alec's for a moment longer, Max turned on her heel and ran.

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**6.38pm **

"Do.. do you remember that time we danced Max? All those lights..."

Perched on the edge of a chair beside Logan's bed, Max felt tears threaten to overwhelm her. She gulped them down, refusing to show Logan her fears. Taking a deep breath to steady her voice, she blurted, "that was a dream Logan."

He turned his head to her and smiled weakly through cracked lips. "I know. But it was such a lovely dream. I just wish we could share it again."

"So do I." Max's voice crumbled and her sight blurred as tears burnt at her eyelids.

Logan winced in pain. The fever and exhaustion threatened to overcome him, but Logan clung tight to consciousness, not wanting to waste another moment of precious time, when so much time had been lost already. "Max, please, take my hand?"

With her fingers tightly clasped together in her lap, Max looked to Logan in horror at the suggestion. "Logan, I can't! You could survive this! But if I touch you, we both know what will happen..."

"You and I both know I won't survive this. So what difference does it make now? I just want to hold you one more time. Please Max?"

Studying her own hands even more intensely than before, unwilling to meet Logan's eyes, Max near shook with the need to scream at the unfairness of it all. She wanted so much to reach out to him. For so long, to touch Logan would be to pass a death sentence upon him. It was a horror she had lived with every day for the past several months. She could watch him die now and never again touch his living skin, all the while convincing herself there was hope; that he'd be able to fight the illness. But if she were to touch him, it would make his death a sure certainty. How could she be his executioner?

But Logan was right. What difference did her touch make now? Except perhaps, to offer long overdue and much awaited comfort.

Coming to a decision, Max slowly reached forward and took one of Logan's hands in her own. Skin met skin for the first in such a long time, they'd almost forgotten what contact felt like. As their fingers entwined, Max hesitantly raised her eyes to meet Logan's. It wasn't pain she saw in his expression as she had feared, but rather relief.

"I…" So much time wasted, and still she couldn't say the words he wanted most to hear. They stopped half way up her throat as even now, she held a part of herself back. "I'm so sorry Logan."

Logan brushed his fingertips over her own before raising her hand to his. "Don't be." His voice was soft and held no condemnation. Of course he wouldn't blame her. She had always been the one to pull away. And now that it was too late for either of them, she was finally reaching out. But still, they hung on for dear life.

It didn't matter what she said now. Instead she climbed onto the bed and nestled beside him. Each one holding on to the other with the desperation of knowing it would be for the last time. Words were meaningless when the simple touch of skin said it all.

And they continued to hold each other, undisturbed through the night, until Logan slipped away, his fingers slackening as they slid from her grasp in the finality of death. An expression of peace upon his face.

**TBC...**

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**End Note:** If anyone is still reading this, I'd love to hear feedback from you! Please don't be afraid to tell me my grammar is terrible, the characterisation is implausable and the plotline dragging into nowhere - if anything I will appreciate being kept on my toes! 

One useless bit of trivia: _The Immigrant_ bar mentioned in this chapter was named after a fantastic Irish pub of my punk rock youth.


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